XOXO Felt Garland

The Valentine's Day decorating continues! Ever since I decided that I wanted to decorate for Valentine's Day, I've been scouring Pinterest for ideas. I came across this one Pin that I added from over 2 years ago of a wonderful garland that perfectly fit in with my personal decor style; the pin came from an Etsy shop...that unfortunately is now closed! So, obviously I had to make one of these perfect garlands for myself!

This DIY is super simple, and you probably already have most (if not all) of the supplies on hand. So, break out the glue and the scissors, grab some of your favorite color felt, and get started!

Supplies Needed:
- Felt sheets
- Stencils (homemade or store bought)
- Fabric glue
- Scissors
- Embroidery floss to match felt
- Sharp point embroidery needle
- Twine

1. Using your stencils, trace out shapes for garland. I chose to do Xs, Os, and hearts - obvious choices for Valentine's Day. You'll need 8 hearts, and 6 each of the Xs and Os.

2. Take two of each shape, and attach them together using fabric glue. You can skip this step if you want, but I think that a double layer looks much better - one layer can be pretty see-through.

3. Once the glue between the layers has dried, finish the edges of your shapes stitching with embroidery floss. I used a blanket stitch to finish my edges; if you are unfamiliar with how to do this, there is a great tutorial over at Red Brolly.

4. Measure a piece of twine long enough to go around your mantle or whichever surface you are going to hang your garland from; to do this, I just held the twine up around my fireplace mantle and added about 10 inches to the length so I'd have enough to make end loops and so there would be a bit of a swag. I then hot glued all of my felt pieces to the twine. I laid the twine out flat, and just eyeballed the spacing of the pieces until I was satisfied; I probably ended up placing the pieces about 1.5" - 2" apart.

5. You're all done! Now hang up your Valentine's Day masterpiece and enjoy how awesome it looks!!

This is the beginnings of my Valentine's Day mantle. I think, for this year, I'm not going to add too much more...I want to leave some really awesome DIYs for next year! You can find the how-to for that sweet framed bunting canvas (left corner) here!

If you try your hand at any of my Valentine crafts, make sure to let me know in the comment section below or on Instagram, #bandbvalentinediy!